1. Socialaround at the festas
Clowning
Permaculture
Kids group and Home schooling group
Car share
Regional permaculture group
Co-Created by
Josh Gomez
&
Rosie Stonehill

2. Social Permaculture
We are very much aware that for permaculture to grow into the permanent culture it proposes, it
cannot simply end at the bottom of the garden. We must, as individuals, as communities and as a
movement, deeply and positively involve ourselves with the people around us, bridging our differences
and asking the question “how can we help one another in bettering ourselves, our environment, our
country and our planet?”.
“Community only has meaning for the future when it extends into and includes all of society” – Graham
Bell, The Permaculture Way
Personally, we have, for many years, been getting involved in the local communities where we have
been living. Whilst living for a time near Aljezur in the Algarve we were involved in helping to initiate
and develop a variety community based endeavours. There had been some work share days and free
markets in the past in the area but we were helping revive this practise and assist with creating a more
focused and cohesive group. This was happening in parallel to the extended PDC run by Daphna which
was largely focussing on enhancing local regional strength. We hosted one work share party at a land
where we were staying which needed extensive clearing work on and around the house and it was a
great experience to see the effect and energy created by many people working together. Since coming
to this area we have helped at and hosted some work share days (clearing land, house building, fence
erecting, olive picking) and we will definitely continue with this in the future.
We have included here some examples of ways in which we have been interacting with and involved in
positive action in our local communities, both with the local people of the area and with other families
who are also establishing more sustainable lifestyles and working towards a cooperative and
empowering extended community.
From taking the circus to the local villages, to sharing our car with our nearby friends, to creating and
shaping our children’s education, to our hopes for the emergence of local, regional and bioregional
permaculture groups here are some examples of our community building so far...

4. We have been in this area for a year now and it has taken a lot of effort to be
accepted (though having Lowarn has helped), but in the last couple of months we
have been starting to do our circus shows and workshops, this has made the biggest
difference and now we are generally warmly greeted and have shaken the hands of
all the local influential people, like presidents and village leaders.
Also we realized that it might be the first time in history (or at least for a long time)
that anything like what we do ( fire swinging, juggling, hula hoop , face painting, etc)
has happened at these festas. It seemed that almost everyone appreciated the
change of colourful entertainment and we really enjoyed to bring something of
ourselves to this community.
We have been invited to various local events in the coming months and also to many
more festas for next summer. We hope to broaden our range of shows and
workshops we can do at these festas, by finishing off our puppets and preparing a
show with them, doing mask & puppet making workshops for the children, doing
more days of circus skills workshops & finishing with a matinee show with the
children performing too.

6. It has been clear to us for a long time that, if we ever had a child, unless we were in a
very different or special situation, we would want to do home schooling. We feel that
the dogmatic learning of questionably valid information, the total lack of attention given
to really useful knowledge and the social psychoses which develop due to the modern
schooling approach mean that there is little of value to be gained from entering
institutionalised schooling.
That said, it has also been equally clear that we would always ensure possibilities of
contact with other friends of the same age, as well as a varied range of age groups, as
this seems an essential part of life and development. In the specific case of Lowarn, he
is incredibly sociable and loves to talk to just about anyone so in some ways he really
doesn’t mind who he spends time with. However he also enjoys very much to have the
kind of connection and interaction which only children can have together.
It is important therefore, for us, that there are other families with young children
wherever we settle. In the very local area (a few kilometres radius) where we are living
now there are currently four families with at least one more planning to move here. This
will make six children (plus one more due in October). We all have at least some interest
in home schooling and to begin forming a group we all are regularly meeting (at least
once a week) to give the kids time to play and learn together. See Children’s education
design to see more about our hopes and plan for the future of Lowarn’s education.

7. When we began our move up to this area of Portugal, we decided that, especially with a
one year old, it might be much simpler to buy a second hand car to make the whole
moving process more possible. We do not intend to always have a car and, with our
horse, are in the process of making the transition to a more localised life style.
However, for now, we realised that, whilst we are still wanting to keep the use of a car,
it made more sense if it was being used by others in the local community as well,
reducing the need for all having vehicles and getting the most out of our car.
We are currently three families sharing this car and, as we all tend to only need it once
or twice a week, is very simple to organise and generally working very well, benefitting
all of us. Whilst deciding whether to initiate this, we used various tools to break down
the relative pros and cons and relative costing of the car per kilometre. We have
included a costing and PMI for this Car Share.
Cost Total
10 KM / litre Fuel @ 1.66€ / litre 16.6 C/KM
Maintenance 2 C / KM
Legality – tax, insurance, MOT 2 C / KM
Eventual replacement car 0.4 C / KM 21 C / KM

8. •Less cars so better for the environment
•No need for everyone to have a car
•Share costs of maintenance and legal requirements
•Could share cost of purchase so people could buy a better, more environmentally friendly car than
they could individually.
•Makes people think more about their car usage, plan ahead
•Encourages sharing trips and shopping missions
•Could be that car is kept clean and tidy by everyone if there is a rule that each returns it as they
got it
•Cooperation within communities
•Allows a different perspective of ownership – “Mine” becomes “Ours”
•On a larger scale – gives people access to different types of vehicles for different uses e.g. A small
car or a van depending on requirements
Plus
•People have to cooperate Car •Can be complicated if people
– may encourage new want it at the same time
social contacts share •Car gets used more = more
•On a larger scale – may wear and tear = higher
need clear rota and more
strict organising Interesting
PMI Minus
maintenance costs
•Only applicable for a certain
number of users before more
than one vehicle is required

9. We intend to start a local permaculture group in this area as we feel that this sense
of cohesion and wider cooperation could bring more strength to the individual
members and to the group as a whole. We see that there is huge potential for
community action, for example reforestation tree planting events, cleaning up the
rivers, work share days, group schooling, freemarkets, seed swaps and helping in the
local villages. There is very little happening here at the moment but we are aware
that local councils are beginning to switch on to a more ecologically conscious focus
(or at least that’s what they say) such as native tree planting days, “Feira
sustentavel” (sustainable market/event). If we can show that there is a strong
movement in support of these activities and a local awareness of sustainable
culture/agriculture then we can maybe join what is beginning to happen here and
help ensure that it is not just a fad of green washing and that real, long term,
positive action continues to happen.
It is clear that, whilst a single family or couple may have little say on decisions made
about the local area and ecosystems, together with a group of regularly meeting,
environmentally aware, consciously thinking people, we will have a stronger position
in terms of influencing the local and wider government bodies.
We have been considering possibilities of local people we have come to know over
the last year and we already have a list of about 30 people we intend to invite to the
group. Beyond this, we would also like to be involved in helping other people start
permaculture groups in their local areas. © Copyright 2011 Rosie Stonehill and Josh Gomez